Improvement in ornamental-headed screws



R. B'. TUNSTALL. Ornamental Headed Screw.

No. 223,080. Patented Dec. 30,1879.-

UNITED STATES PATENT 'OFFIeE.

ROBERT B. TUN STALL, OF NORFOLK, VIRGINIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN ORNAMENTAL-HEADED SCREWS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 223,080, dated December 30, 1879; application filed September 11, 1879.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, ROBERT B. TUNS'IALL, of the city of Norfolk, Norfolk county, State of Virginia, have invented a new and Improved Ornamental Headed Screw for hanging pioture-frarnes, ornaments, and other like articles; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this my specification of said invention, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, in which- Figure 1 represents a longitudinal section of my improved screw upon which to hang pictures set in frames and other ornamental articles of furniture of a dwelling. Fig. 2 represents my improved screw in connection with a centering and steadyin g guide used during the act of inserting the screw into alath or astud or the wall of a building. Fig. 3 is a plan view of Fig. 2 without the lath, stud, or wall shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 represents my improved screw with a removable thumb-lever for forcing the screw into the wall of a room, and Fig. 5 shows the thumb-lever removed after the screw has been secured in position prior to suspending a picture-frame thereon.

The object of my invention is to avoid the objections which obtain to the use of the wellknown porcelain-head nail, so commonly employed in hanging pictures and other ornamental articles.

The nail being driven in position is liable to break and loosen the plastering, and so damage and disfigure the wall, and especially so in case the nail penetrates a lath in rear of the plastering of a dwelling in the act of driving. Besides this it often happens that the nail, after penetrating the plastering, passes between contiguous edges of two laths, thus affording but a slight hold upon the nail, and an insecure support for the article hung upon the nail; and,at best, the nail ali'ords but an insecure support, being liable to draw out even when driven into a stud or a post, and with a heavy weight suspended thereon.

Moreover, it is difficult to drive the nails with uniformity, so that all of them used shall project into the room on the same plane with reference to the wall into which they are driven.

All of these objections to the use of the ordinary nail for hanging pictures are avoided by my invention, which I will now proceed to describe, my said porcelain-head screw being intended. as a substitute for said porcelain-head nail.

Having reference to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, A indicates the porcelain head,and B the body portion of my porcelain-headed screw for hanging pictures.

The head A is constructed the same as the head of the porcelain-headed nail now in common use for the purpose named above.

The body B I construct with a tapering screw-threaded portion, 0, projecting below a shank, c, which, at its upper termination, 0 is screw-threaded to engage with the screwthreaded inner portion of the head A, as shown.

On opposite sides of the shank portion 0 wings, as at d d, aremade to project, as shown, which serve as a thumb and finger lever in the act of screwing the implement into place in a wall, the body B being composed of the parts 0 c, d d, and 0 all of one piece of metal of proper strength for the purpose designed.

E E, Figs. 2 and 3, are half-disks of metal, having half-tubes e projecting centrally therefrom, as shown, which, when placed together, as indicated in Fig. 3, and against a wall, G, as indicated in Fig. 2, serve to steady the screw while in the act of being screwed into the wall, and also guide the screw so that it shall penetrate precisely at right angles with the wall or other object into which it is inserted, these disks being held together with the left hand of the operator during the act of inserting the screw, and allowed to separate and fall away from contact with the part c and 0 when the insertion of the screw is completed.

In this manner it will be seen that a perfect uniformity in the penetration of the screws may be efi'ected; or, in other words, that a series or any number of the screws may be made to all unerringly stand at right angles with the wall when inserted therein.

In Figs. 4 and 5 I have shown the screwposition, as shown in Fig. 4-, seats itself against the shoulders f, and when thus seated the threaded portion 0 may be made to penetrate a stud or wall by turning the lever, after which the lever may be slipped off by unscrewing the head A, thus leaving the screw remaining in the wall in the condition indicated in Fig. 5.

If deemed preferable, to effect the penetration of the screw a leverage may be had by passing a metal rod through a perforation, as at w, in the shank 0.

I do not herein separately make claim to the disks E E above described and illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3; and I would further state that I have shown the screw with a removable thumb and finger lever, herein described and illustrated by Figs. 4 and 5, as a modification of my improved screw, herein described and illustrated by Figs. 1 and '2 of the drawings.

I claim- A screw for hanging picture-frames and other articles, which is provided with a tapering screw-threaded portion, 0, and with suita- -ble means for fastening it to a porcelain or ornamental head, A, and with an intermediate thumb and finger lever, as shown in Figs. I and 2, substantially as described.

7 ROBERT BAYLOR 'IUNSIALL. In presence of- ALFRED P. THoRN, W. W. HUNTER. 

